Working from home doesn’t always make work easier. Many things can affect your focus, but luckily, there are solutions. Upgrade your productivity using home office organization tips that support your mental health. These simple ideas can help you check things off your to-do list.
1. Create a Focus Zone
Consider where you work, and make that space a focus zone, whether it’s your desk or kitchen table. Remove any visual clutter, like charging pads, phone stands and stacks of belongings you haven’t put away yet. Even putting your phone in a drawer can help you focus. Research shows that a phone’s presence can reduce your attention span, so put it somewhere out of sight and maintain that zone throughout your workday.
2. Do an Energy Check
People might assume that organizing your office means moving paperwork around, but it can also involve rearranging your furniture. How is your home office currently set up? Do you feel more energized while facing the window or the door? Moving your furniture to match your energy needs could improve your comfort. You’ll immediately feel at ease when you sit down to work, which could boost your focus each morning.
3. Take Notes by Hand
Typing all day gets tedious, and boring activities are opportunities to indulge in distractions. Try taking notes by hand during your next meeting or brainstorming session. You’ll have to focus more on the act of writing, which guides your thoughts without much effort.
Notebooks have built-in organization tools, too. Use tab labels to sort the pages and place your notebooks on shelves according to their subject matter or dates. You’ll always know where to find your notes because you created a storage system.
4. Turn Decor Into Office Supplies
Your home office should reflect your personality. Decorations give life to your space but can double as productivity-boosting supplies. Young minds that decorate their study spaces with calendars and bulletin boards increase their productivity levels in two ways. They feel freer to tackle responsibilities because they’re safe among their personal expressions. They also gain the tools they need to succeed, like a calendar.
Get a weekly or monthly calendar that matches your interior design aesthetic. Hang it on a corkboard that matches your existing office furniture. This time management tool can make productivity easier to maintain.
5. Organize Your Cables
Visual clutter could raise your stress levels. Achieving your best work is much harder when your mind feels overwhelmed. Tackle unwanted clutter by organizing any cables around your desk. Charging cords and monitor cables shouldn’t look like tangled snakes. Unravel and rearrange them like a professional network installation crew with cable clips and Velcro ties.
6. Throw Away Old Pens
Your trusty desk drawer or pencil holder likely has pencils and pens from years ago. Even if you think of fun memories when you look at them, they only hinder your productivity. No one should reach for a pen and find one with dried ink. Throw out any dry pens to reduce stressful clutter and eliminate those wasted minutes you’d otherwise spend trying to make them work.
7. Invest in Sticky Notes
Problem-solving happens more naturally if you embrace your free-flowing thoughts. Sticky notes make that happen. They’re a way to scribble down anything that passes through your mind, and you can easily throw them away if one doesn’t serve your needs. When you’re less critical of your ideas, you can solve problems faster and become more productive. A sticky note’s bright color could even improve your mood, which might make your workday more manageable, too.
8. Get a Dish Tray
You can’t show your professional responsibilities who’s boss if you feel like you’re working in a landfill. Being at home means you can access your kitchen whenever you want, which might mean that dishes pile up around your keyboard every day. Visual clutter and food mess could make you feel cramped and reduce your desire to work at your desk.
Find a dish tray at a local thrift store to solve the problem. Put your breakfast, lunch or snack dishes on the tray. You’ll only have to make one trip to the kitchen to clean your office. You also won’t have to watch dishes pile up around you while you’re trying to beat deadlines.
Improve Your Productivity With Better Organization
Organizing your furniture, dishes, cords and other things around your office could improve your productivity by making the space an enjoyable place to spend time. Consider which aspects of your office make you feel stressed or distracted. Once you try some home office organization tips, you could accomplish more during the workday.
